November 29, 2010 - Another great week in Paradise!

     Another great week here in Issaquah! This place is just the best - already dreading transfers because I just love the people here too much! 

     The first of the week was really crazy!  Seattle got "pounded" with a big snow storm, a whole 6 inches! Haha nothing like Utah snow but literally the whole town shut down. We got a call from the mission office on P-Day that we had to head home and park our cars because the roads were getting too bad. So we headed back home and had to make some calls to figure how we were going to get around for our appointments for the night. We had one of the members in the ward come and pick us up from dinner which was great. But the way home was another story! We were driving down back towards our apartments and we got to this part of the road that is a bridge and there were a good - hmm - twenty cars crashed everywhere and the line of cars went on for a mile!  So we decided it would be pointless for Brother Adams to take us home so we just walked. The only problem with our area is we live three miles outside of it.  We started walking down the bridge and started to help get the traffic going again! The bridge was only two lanes and the lane coming from the city went for miles because cars weren't making it up the bridge.  We pushed cars up the bridge for an hour and a half!  And let me tell you, people do not know how to drive in the snow here haha!  We were pushing a BMW and we would just push and walk along side and coach them up the hill, so we would just kept telling them to drive steady and we would push!  Haha the second it would start to slip this guy would floor it....so does it seem logical to floor it when were are on a slanted icy bridge? Noooope. Ya - see ya Elder Aiken and Elder Twingstrom and the BMW towards the guard rail. It was a crazy night but Heavenly Father definitely helped us be safe so it was great!  After we and a couple of drivers got the traffic going again we began our walk home. Loving life just passing our Pass-a-long cards along the way! It was a great way to talk to people. 

     Long story short, the traffic was so bad that it took one of the members in the ward 3 hours to drive three miles up the road home!  I heard Utah got some of that storm too! So the first of the week was hard because it was difficult to get around to our area but we ended up finding alot of potentials, so it was great!  

My 2nd Family - the Powells!

    Thanksgiving was just great here!  We had a mission activity in the morning and then dinner at the Powell family's house later that day!  It was soo much fun. Their family is hilarious! They are my second fam and I just love them to death!  We had a great meal with them. It was a great day to take time to think about all that we are blessed with. 

    We had a great rest of the week with our investigators! Gerald and Lucy have been gone for the past week so it has been hard to find time to meet with them but we have had a couple great lessons with them!  I just love them so much and it's great to watch as the Book of Mormon brings the spirit into their lives. The Book of Mormon is truly such a blessing in our lives, it brings us so close to our Savior.  We hope to put Gerald and Lucy on date for baptism this upcoming week. We just love them to death. This upcoming week should be great! There is alot of work to do in this area and the Lord is preparing a way for all of these people to hear the gospel and it's just amazing.  Heavenly Father and his angels walk along side us daily. He loves us so much and is there for us all the time, if we will just take time to be quiet and feel of the spirit. It's been a great week here and I love you all more than you can understand! Thanks for all your love and prayers, I feel them constantly!  Elder Aiken.

(Letter from Sandy Powell)
"Ok, so your son just left.  They came over at 2pm and stayed the whole day.  The yams he made were amazing!  He did a great job!  And the key lime pie was truly to die for.  It was funny, he ate so much that he was literally sick!  He tried to lay down for a nap, that didn't work, he couldn't breathe, then he sat down and we were all talking and he would laugh and had to walk out of the room he was so full and just having a great time.  We played cards and just talked for hours, it was very fun and we had a great time!  He and I kinda had a whipped cream war, he squirted me (on accident) then me him (on accident) and got it on his tie.  Anyways, he said to tell you Happy Thanksgiving, and he's doing great!